Just a few years ago, Boston's Clarence Edwards Middle School was on the verge of being shut down. By 2009, a renaissance at the Edwards made it one of the highest performing and most desired middle schools in Boston, dramatically narrowing and even eliminating academic achievement gaps while delivering a far more well-rounded education to its…

The Public Policy and Public Schools Program was developed to educate urban, low-income parents about the administration, curriculum, organization, legal structure, and finances of their children's schools. The program has increased parental involvement in local boards of education, school committees, and advocacy groups. Sample program activities…

In 2001, a decision by the New York State Supreme Court in a landmark school funding case, Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), Inc. v. State of New York, declared the current New York state funding system unconstitutional and ordered the legislature to replace it with a new cost-based system that ensures that every school district has sufficient…

While it is understood that state compensatory education funds will probably do little to close the gap in public school expenditure levels between wealthy and poor New Jersey districts, it is still important that the educational consumer and the interested observer understand how the system works. Compensatory education funds are the source of…

Section 3602 of the New York State Education Law provides supplementary means of improving the teacher-learning situation for those students having special educational needs associated with poverty. Funds are provided on an annual basis, 1970-71 being the third one for receipt of such funds by New York City. This bulletin contains summaries of…

Executive and legislative branches of the New York State government have made consistent efforts to address the dropout problem, which is particularly acute in urban schools, through new initiatives and increased funding. State aid programs are summarized, and suggestions for improvement are provided. (SLD)

Effects of teacher-pupil ratio on kindergartners' mastery of reading readiness objectives were studied. The study was part of Tennessee's Project STAR, a 4-year study of class size. About 2,850 students in 38 elementary schools that served 4 types of communities: innercity, suburban, urban, and rural, in 26 Tennessee school systems participated.…

As provided by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the Massachusetts State Department of Education (MSDE) has developed this plan to attempt to meet the educational needs of homeless children and to supply them with resources to meet those needs. The plan contains a section delineating federal and state laws and state policies…